The Norddeutsche Regatta Verein, supported by the New York Yacht Club, is the organizer of the HSH Nordbank Blue Race. HSH Nordbank is actively involved in the official process of invitation to take part. The regatta will be open to all yacht categories. Ole von Beust, the mayor and president of the city council of Hamburg, has assumed patronage of the event.

As a supporter of the sport of sailing, HSH Nordbank has since 2004 provided its Race Repair Service (RRS), offering yachtsmen a level of offshore assistance unique anywhere in the world during the Kiel Week, Travemünde Week and Rolex Baltic Week events. The HSH Nordbank Cup (formerly the Blue Ribbon Cup), a regatta from Kiel to Copenhagen and back, dates back to 1998. This race across the Baltic took place again this year, from August 17 to 21. The Real Race, a regatta for the real estate business sector, is a first this year. “Sailing represents sport just as it does challenge, innovation and team spirit,” added Stuhlmann. “These concepts provide an excellent match for our corporate culture.”

Further sponsors have already pledged their support to the HSH Nordbank Blue Race. Those on board include the Hamburg-based underwriters König & Cie., Hamburg Messe (trade fairs organizers), the main sales outlet of Mercedes-Benz in Hamburg and, as equipment suppliers, the sailing-clothing manufacturer Marinepool.

HSH Nordbank AG is a strong regional bank in Northern Europe. It has total assets of € 184 billion and employs roughly 4,500 staff around the world. It is the market leader in its core region of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. As a global provider of specialist finance, its main focus is on transportation and real estate. In fact, HSH Nordbank is the world’s leading provider of ship finance and covers the entire value chain in the transportation segment. In the area of real estate, HSH Nordbank is one of the strongest banks in Germany, acting as a provider of services relating to all aspects of real estate. It is an acknowledged partner of the capital markets. For more information please visit our website at http://www.hsh-nordbank.de.

The Norddeutsche Regatta Verein ist one of the oldest and the biggest yacht club in Germany. The NRV has about 2.000 members in Germany and abroard, has over 300 boats and yachts flying its burgee and offers over 60 clubboats for the 270 kids and youngsters in the training department of the club. In the year 1968 the club was founded by Hamburg trading families and since then has allways given new impulses to the German sailing community. The NRV was a co-founder of the Kiel Sailing Week in 1882 and the Travemünde Sailing Week in 1989 and is until today a co-organizer of these and other international sailing events. In the year 2003 the NRV organized the Daimler Chrysler North Atlantic Challenge – an Atlantic crossing from west to east - to honour the 100th anniversary of the Hamburg Verein Seefahrt. In 2004 the Club initiated the ROLEX Baltic Week as the new top level sailing event in the international sailing world and by this is the only one to host a sailing event together with ROLEX in northern Europe.